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Difficulty hitting Upper Chest

TommyC

New member
Men,

I’m having problems hitting my upper chest via typical upper chest exercises. I cannot get a mind-muscle connection, if you can understand that. I’m naturally wide, so hitting chest for us wide guys (shoulders/lats take on more leverage) is harder, especially the inner, upper chest leading up to the collar bone.

I’m doing incline bench/dumbbell, yet feel most of the strain in the last and shoulders.

Dumbell pullovers tear my lats and tris, with little pump in the upper chest.

I do get a pump from cable cross overs and flies. Even incline machine press gets at it, but not a big machine guy tbh.

Wondering if any other wide guy has had this issue or whatever it is, or if anyone can direct me to the exercise to make my top pecs scream. I had a huge chest from left to right but mediocre definition at the top.

Much appreciated.
 
Landmine presses
Hold 2 DB together on incline and press(will work inside/upper)
Light BB, reserve grip press
 
I to also had trouble making the mind muscle connection with my chest.
I was successful in doing so by using lighter weight on the bench press so that my stabilizing muscles wouldn’t take over, and if i wanted to go heavy I would do dumbbell presses,
But mostly I used cable flys mid, upper, and lower. Until my chest became really sore and I walked around feeling my chest for days. After a while of this I can now flex my chest and I’ve never been abile to do this befor

For you I would stay away from the bar not completely but focus more on the dumbbell press and cable flys.

Just my 2cents
 
Jcc7220 said:
I to also had trouble making the mind muscle connection with my chest.
I was successful in doing so by using lighter weight on the bench press so that my stabilizing muscles wouldn’t take over, and if i wanted to go heavy I would do dumbbell presses,
But mostly I used cable flys mid, upper, and lower. Until my chest became really sore and I walked around feeling my chest for days. After a while of this I can now flex my chest and I’ve never been abile to do this befor

For you I would stay away from the bar not completely but focus more on the dumbbell press and cable flys.

Just my 2cents
Click to expand...

The bar is my best friend, but starting to go with lighter weights to hit that 8 - 10 rep mark.

Incline Dumbell just really doesn’t do it for me. That “squeeze” that everyone talks about at the top....hard to realize the effects even dialed in.
 
What I like about the dumbbell press is I have full control on the angle my elbows are and the angle my hands are on. So I can hit every fiber of my chest
 
Ah ok. So like supplanted grip for a set/few reps incorporated into normal incline db. I’ll give it a go. Always looking for ways to tear it.
 
Bintherduntht said:
Is your back slightly arched on the bench w/ dumbbells to put the strain pecs instead of shoulders?
Click to expand...
I tried this tonight as i saw it while doing chest, it did help a little but i still didnt feel like i was doing a lot.
Did sets of 18 and felt much more stretch on the upper chest. Thanks man. I think i might do upper chest with shoulder and arms day and take a puff on the way in. This is great for mind muscle connection but unsafe for me on a heavy press day...

I want to add, i don't recommend that, just a trick ive tried in the past. I dont want to be blamed for someone dropping a barbell on there head... its not a safe move, im just an iofiot by nature
 
Ase_james said:
I tried this tonight as i saw it while doing chest, it did help a little but i still didnt feel like i was doing a lot.
Did sets of 18 and felt much more stretch on the upper chest. Thanks man. I think i might do upper chest with shoulder and arms day and take a puff on the way in. This is great for mind muscle connection but unsafe for me on a heavy press day...

I want to add, i don't recommend that, just a trick ive tried in the past. I dont want to be blamed for someone dropping a barbell on there head... its not a safe move, im just an iofiot by nature
Click to expand...
Yea man, really focus on that mind muscle connection and form
 
incline dumbbell hex presses where you hold the dumbbells tight together and press up (stopping before lockout) and keeping HARD pressure on the db's

high rep cable flies from bottom to top with your back supported/seated (to prevent cheating)

single arm cable or machine flyes so you can go past the midpoint (make sure to not turn your body, only let your arm swing past mid
 
On incline work, try to use a suicide grip. I have found that suicide grip takes my shoulders out of the movement. Additionally, so and controlled reps, make sure you are going do to your chest. Lastly, keep your shoulder blades retracted. If you were to stand up right now and just do a pressing motion without your shoulder blades retracted, you will notice your chest is not working versus if you have them retracted, you will see your chest working.
 
booneman77 said:
single arm cable or machine flyes so you can go past the midpoint (make sure to not turn your body, only let your arm swing past mid
Click to expand...

That is my favorite chest exercise I can truly focus on my chest and put my other hand on my chest and feel it flex so I know exactly what I’m hitting
 
AntM1564 said:
On incline work, try to use a suicide grip. I have found that suicide grip takes my shoulders out of the movement. Additionally, so and controlled reps, make sure you are going do to your chest. Lastly, keep your shoulder blades retracted. If you were to stand up right now and just do a pressing motion without your shoulder blades retracted, you will notice your chest is not working versus if you have them retracted, you will see your chest working.
Click to expand...

Not saying you are wrong... but for me I find suicide grips ( that I use a lot) is beneficial to when I want to keep my forearm out of my grip.
 
Jcc7220 said:
Not saying you are wrong... but for me I find suicide grips ( that I use a lot) is beneficial to when I want to keep my forearm out of my grip.
Click to expand...

Obviously it is going to take your forearms out. Hence why people use it while training back.
 
Incline reverse grip dumbbell bench press. It feels weird and it’s ok to hold the dumbbells at a 45 degree angle if you can’t go completely reversed. You’ll be able to focus on more mind muscle connection if you use a rep tempo like 2-1-2 or 3 seconds on the negative portion and then explode up. Lifting the weights at a slower pace always helps to dial in the muscles you’re trying to activate
 
I would suggest you to try activating the upper pec region through something like a few sets of upward cable fly, then doing a 15° Smith bench press while trying out different hand positioning. The goal is to be able to feel the targeted area so maybe just contract that area before training it directly with weights.
 
You need to be hitting light incline flys. When I say light I do not mean easy either. Slow negatives with high(er) reps. Even use drop sets with this.
 
Ok, after following this post, I've been using 25# plates incline pressing them together with all my strength from the sternum up. And it as unbelievable, i even get a pump in my mid and upper chest. Hits the shoulders to, but this is the most burn ive ever had in the upper chest.
 
ironhands said:
bench presses hits the entire chest
Click to expand...

That's true but while you cannot isolate areas of the chest you can certainly place more emphasis on the upper chest. It's easy to over develop the lower chest by neglecting incline work especially if you're not naturally dispositioned to upper chest musculature. The upper chest pump I achieve from dumbell pullovers I cannot replicate with bench presses. Glad you've found something that works OP.
 
One more thing you may want to try. Go through the motions contracting your chest infront of the mirror and take note when tension is greatest in your upper chest. This can really helps develop the mind muscle connection.
 
ericos_bob said:
That's true but while you cannot isolate areas of the chest you can certainly place more emphasis on the upper chest. It's easy to over develop the lower chest by neglecting incline work especially if you're not naturally dispositioned to upper chest musculature. The upper chest pump I achieve from dumbell pullovers I cannot replicate with bench presses. Glad you've found something that works OP.
Click to expand...

i want more lower chest mass (i want what's called an ''Arnold's chest'', which is massive lower pectoral development)
 
ironhands said:
i want more lower chest mass (i want what's called an ''Arnold's chest'', which is massive lower pectoral development)
Click to expand...
Arnold also has insane upper chest development. His whole chest was just insane really.
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In his book he also emphasized training upper chest as not to have it underdeveloped relative to lower chest.
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The fact is the upper chest is slow to develop. Most could get away with doing only incline work. That slab you can place a beer can on isn't going to happen without a lot of upper chest training. Do only flat bench and you'll look like every other gym bro sporting a set of man boobs. It's very unlikely to have an underdeveloped lower chest.
 
Same problem way back. Need to really feel that contraction where you want it. Try a standing underhand DB raise that crosses your body and use the other hand to feel the contraction in your chest. It's a forced contraction due to pushing your muscles inward but thats the feeling you want to try and feel doing other upper chest exercises. you wont get that full forced contraction with incline BB or even DB presses but you will start to make that muscle mind connection a little easier knowing what you want it to feel like doing those excercises. For incline BB trying to get that contraction will force you to make changes and/or correct your form to feel that similiar contraction. Like squeezing the shoulder blades together and arching your back a little.

Once i started doing this I realized I was going to heavy on my inclines and not focusing on the contractions. I dropped the weight to where it was comfortable and safe and was getting much better results in my upper chest workouts
 
TommyC said:
Men,

I’m having problems hitting my upper chest via typical upper chest exercises. I cannot get a mind-muscle connection, if you can understand that. I’m naturally wide, so hitting chest for us wide guys (shoulders/lats take on more leverage) is harder, especially the inner, upper chest leading up to the collar bone.

I’m doing incline bench/dumbbell, yet feel most of the strain in the last and shoulders.

Dumbell pullovers tear my lats and tris, with little pump in the upper chest.

I do get a pump from cable cross overs and flies. Even incline machine press gets at it, but not a big machine guy tbh.

Wondering if any other wide guy has had this issue or whatever it is, or if anyone can direct me to the exercise to make my top pecs scream. I had a huge chest from left to right but mediocre definition at the top.

Much appreciated.
Click to expand...
Pretty much every chest movement will hit some upper chest, even decline bench will activate the upper chest some. Take the exercises you feel most and work the **** out of them.
 
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